MATCH REPORT: Lancashire secure 4 wicket win in Bristol
Lancashire 240 & 203-6 beat Gloucestershire 136 & 305 by 4 wickets.
Lancashire 19pts Gloucestershire 3pts
Keaton Jennings led the way with an unbeaten half-century as Lancashire completed a four-wicket Rothesay County Championship Division Two win over Gloucestershire shortly after lunch on the final day at the Seat Unique Stadium, Bristol.
Starting the day on 75 for three in their second innings, requiring a further 127 runs for victory, the visitors finished on 203 for six, Jennings contributing 78 not out, Michael Jones 30 and Arav Shetty 31, as their team made it two wins from their first three Championship fixtures.
Lancashire took 19 points from the game to consolidate leadership of Division Two, while Gloucestershire had to settle for three to be on that number after three games and firmly rooted to the bottom of the table.
The weather gods smiled on Lancashire as play began under clear blue skies with the sun shining. It looked ideal batting conditions and there were few alarms for Jennings and Jones as they built on a stand that had reached 29 by close of play on day three.
Jennings slashed the first boundary of the day through cover off Matt Taylor and Jones soon showed positive intent too, hitting the left-arm seamer for successive boundaries in the fifth over of the day.
Gabe Bell bowled a tidy spell from the Ashley Down Road End, but when he was replaced by Will Williams another Jennings boundary took the runs needed to below 100.
Gloucestershire made a breakthrough in the 13th over of the day when Jones played defensively to a ball from former Lancashire seamer Williams that left him and edged to second slip where Cameron Bancroft took a comfortable waist-high catch.
At 121 for four, Lancashire required a further 81 runs, with Jennings a reassuring presence in the middle. Gloucestershire thought they had him caught behind off Henry Brookes with the score on 125, but umpire Ian Blackwell had signalled a no-ball.
Soon afterwards, Jennings completed a 138-ball half-century including 8 fours. But he lost another partner with the total on 143 as Matty Hurst, on eight, miscued an attempted shot through the legs-side off Bell, who had switched to the Pavilion End, and was caught at mid-wicket.
If Gloucestershire sensed a chance, it was snuffed out by Arav Shetty, who provided positive support for Jennings in a match-clinching stand, which had added 45 precious runs by lunch, taken at 188 for five, with only 14 needed.
Jennings had progressed to 74, with Shetty on 30, and the hard work had been done.
Still Gloucestershire refused to surrender and the second over after the interval saw Shetty bowled by off-spinner Ollie Price with ten still required. George Balderson was almost run out taking a quick single to get off the mark, just making his ground at the bowler’s end.
A Jennings boundary to fine leg off Price calmed any nerves and four byes down the leg side ended the match at just before 1.55pm.
It was a contest several seam bowlers could look back on with pride. Lancashire’s Balderson and James Anderson had match figures of nine for 109 and seven for 63 respectively, while Gloucestershire Matt Taylor returned seven for 105.
The visitors had every cause for satisfaction at a solid all-round performance marred by the serious injuries to Ajeet Singh Dale (hamstring) and Luke Wells (dislocated shoulder), while Gloucestershire could take some consolation from being a lot more competitive than in their opening two Championship fixtures, which both ended in innings defeats.
